Impervious Distance
by Oceans Phoenix
Summary: Do you believe in fate? Harry Does. As He faces Voldemort, he leaves a cryptic message for Hermione to find him no matter what. An hour later he has fallen off the face of the planet. Where is he? Or more Importantly, when is he, and can Hermione find him
1. The Promise

Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter, or his world, but you knew that, right?

Hello. It has been a good several months or more since I was last writing, but I finally found the story I want to write, hopefully its one you want to read. It's slightly Au, in the fact on or two characters like Dumbledore might be alive, but since its post Hogwarts it shouldn't make much difference. I anticipate the story to be 15,000-30,000 words long. (I'm notoriously bad with my estimates, so bare with me.)

It was a stormy night. Thunder cracked, and lighting lit up the sky, as rain poured down from the heavens above. The wind whistled through the ramparts like a howling lion whilst all those inside the castle wrapped their arms around themselves for warmth.

Two however, did not. They were standing on the top of the north tower, exposed to the full ferocity of the storm, as it whipped around them, soaking them through to the bone, and then some.

"Why are we out here Harry?" She said, practically shouting to be head over the storm.

"I think better with a cool head." He replied, standing facing her, toe to toe, so that he could rest his chin on her head should he so wish. He leant a little closer and spoke into her ear, so she wouldn't miss a word. "It's time, the others are leaving, if Voldemort is to be stopped then it must be now, and I must be the one to do it."

"I know Harry," Hermione cried helplessly, as she buried her face in his shoulder, hoping to find the warmth of his body.

"I just wish it didn't have to be yet, I'm not ready for you to risk it all, to risk us."

"It isn't a matter of being ready or not. It's simply a matter of doing what must be done, and facing up to our destiny. This is mine, I have to go Hermione. I have to put an end to this once and for all." He said with grim determination. This was a moment he had been preparing for some time now. His seventh year would be ending soon, and though it was the summer, they were gripped in a winter storm.

"Good luck Harry." Hermione said, as she felt him pull away from her.

"Thank you." He replied. he wanted to tell her how he felt. Although they had established that they felt more than friendship, they had not yet had a chance to explore this. He prayed they would do, that he would return from his face off against the dark lord. He turned to walk towards the door, before disappearing down the steps.

"Hermione felt cold in side, this didn't seem like how they should end things. She jumped as the door banged on its hinges. She looked up to see Harry before her once again.

I have more to say." He replied to her questioning gaze. He made large strides towards her. "I need to tell you, you know that I love you, right?" He drew her chin up so that she was looking at him. He had a hood pulled up, which shadowed his features. As a bolt of lightning pierced through the darkness, he was illuminated for a moment. Hermione saw that he looked pale, and tired. His eyes didn't have their usual life, and someone he had the feel about him, as though he was already defeated.

"You never said." She choked, as a tear rolled down her cheeks.

"I know. It was a mistake. I'm telling you now, so that you always know." She nodded, as he wrapped his arms around her, savouring the feel of her being. "Can you do me a favour?"

"Sure what is it?" she asked as she looked at him. She wished she could help him, to fight by his side, but all she could do was give him her best wishes.

"After the battle will you find me?"

"Of course, I will find you as soon as it's all over."

"But if you can't will you keep looking?" he asked, as suddenly his tone seemed to change, "Even if it took you a long time, would you still find me."

"What are you talking about Harry?" Hermione asked as she drew back from him, trying to gauge what he was talking about.

"Promise me Hermione, that no matter how long it takes, you will find me, even if it seems hopeless. Promise!?"

"Ok Harry, I promise" She complied, not wishing to worry him before the battle, "I will always find you."

"It's just a matter of when." He said with a pained smile, and with that he turned and left, leaving her once again, though this time rather confused.

After a few moments Hermione headed back inside. She went to her room and dried her hair. So Harry loved her… She would have smiled at this, but her anxiety prevented her from enjoying this fact. It was a few months ago, as they had been revising for their exams together. Ron didn't seem to take his studying so seriously, so there had been a lot of time that Harry and Hermione spent alone studying together.

Although when he was younger he found her dedication to books and her studies to be humorous, now he found it admirable. If she wanted to know something, then she would learn it. He wished he had the determination to go after everything her wanted. Eventually he had decided he would, and so told Hermione that he saw her as more than a friend.

Things were rocky to start with. Not because they were incompatible, but because they had been such good friends for so long, it was difficult to make that transition into something more, even if it was what they both wanted.

Hermione shook herself from her reveries, she debated getting changed, but some how felt if Harry was out there in the cold, then it would seem wrong for her to be curled up in bed. Plus as soon as she heard news that the fight was over, good or bad, she needed to be there, so she could see Harry again.

She made her way to the common room, where she sat besides the fire. Within a few moments she was steaming as her clothes dried. There were a few other students around, but there was a deathly silence upon them. All in the school knew what tonight was. It would be the final stand. Voldemort, with his increasing power, had gathered many followers. Thousands even, some said. Dumbledore and the ministry had been such strong believers of the prophecy, they had laid down countless lives so Harry could have more time to train, to prepare.

It was not a cost Harry had wanted them to make. It kept him awake at night, and stopped him laughing with his friends. How could one person shoulder such responsibility? If he were to fail, then all those lives would be in vain wouldn't they? And it would be his fault, because they had believed they were doing it for the greater good, when all they had done was line up like dominos, to be knocked down one by one by Voldemort's murderous army.

Hermione tried to concentrate on her homework, but was unable to block out some of the questions plaguing her mind. Was Harry alright now? Had the battle started? He could be dead, and she wouldn't know till someone came back to tell her, if anyone came back that was. And if they didn't then there were the emergency portkeys set up so they could evacuate the student body to relative safety on the other side of the country.

Gradually as Hermione drove herself mad with worry, she began breathing heavily. The hot fire in front of her began to make her dizzy, and looking at the dark mark high in the sky, she realised she was having a panic attack. She stood, wavering for a minute, as she slowed her breathing. She made her way to the common room entrance, and out into the corridor, where once again the cold air hit her. It calmed her nerves, if only a little and she felt at least a little more composed. She ran her hands through her hair, and tried to think what she could possibly do, since waiting felt so wrong.

"He will be alright you know" said a voice, snapping Hermione from her own private world.

"Draco… What are you doing?" Hermione asked, looking at the blond boy. Over the last year he had grown up a lot. He still liked to argue with Harry, but it seemed more out of habit and sport, than him actually having anything against the boy.

"I'm patrolling the corridors." He replied as he waved his wand to show he was ready for action. "Should there be news, I will be one of those reporting it." Hermione nodded. "I was saying not to worry though. Harry will be alright. I have seen him practice, seem him fighting. His training, it has been something else. He's become far more than you or I could ever hope to be. His powers are something I would envy."

"Why are you doing this?" She asked. "Why are you reassuring me?"

"Why not? We aren't the same people we were when we were eleven. I may dislike you, but I am first, and foremost, a gentleman, and alleviating worries of another is a crucial requirement." He said as he attempted to draw a laugh. "Mmm I guess it's not really the time for laughs."

"Well thanks for trying anyway." Said Hermione.

Outside the castle though, across the other side of Hogsmeade a battle was raging. The Aurors, backed up by officials from governments all over Europe, were locked in battle against Death Eaters. Two however, were not.

It was a stormy night. Thunder cracked, and lighting lit up the sky, as rain poured down from the heavens above. The wind whipped across the landscape and past the two individuals, locked in what would go down as the most intense battle in history.

Harry paced round the edge of the lockout field, opposite Voldemort. Neither of them could escape, no one could enter. They were completely locked off from the world around

"Do you really think you have what it takes to beat me Harry?" Voldemort sneered. He was one never to miss an opportunity at playing mind games. "You are so inexperienced Harry, and I know so much more. I am more than you; I am more than just a human, whilst you are not."

"I to, can be inhuman when I need to be." Harry said, cold inside. He had learned to shut it all off, to have no restrictions, no feelings, to be ruthless and efficient, to give it his all. "There is a time when the tide turns, and that time is now." Harry drew his wand arm back, as though he was going to thrust with a rapier. He was poised and elegant, yet concentrated on the battle at hand. On how he would kill Voldemort, and make sure he never came back…

An hour Later Remus limped up the slope towards the castle. His leg was bleeding. Someone had fired a slicing curse, and there was a considerable amount of blood soaked through his trousers. He would have healed it himself on the field, but he needed to get the dirt washed out first. Already people were coming down out of the castle, peering gingerly around the entrance hall. Was it true? Had they won? The fact there were survivors on their team, meant yes, they had indeed won. It was over now, it was all over. No more Death Eaters, no more Voldemort, just peace and aftermath.

Hermione climbed down the stairs, unaware of the people around her. She felt like she was outside her own body, but she needed to know. If Voldemort had been defeated then that meant that Harry must be alive. Would he be ok thought? Was he injured?

She pushed her way through the crowd, till an arm caught her.

"Hermione, wait" said Tonks as she held onto the young woman. "I'm afraid Harry isn't out there."

"What?" Hermione asked in disbelief as she was unable to draw her eyes away from the floor.

"I'm afraid after the battle we looked, and we couldn't find him. It's possible after he defeated Voldemort that a few Death Eaters kidnapped him, but I would have thought he could over power them without any trouble."

"Where is Harry?" Hermione demanded. Were they trying to say he was dead?

"I'm afraid we simply don't know. He's disappeared without a trace, the only thing left was his wand." Tonks explained regrettfuly.

Hermione stayed silent for a few moments, trying to run over everything in her mind, before coming to a conclusion.

"I'm going to find Harry. I'm going to go out there, and I'm going to look, and I'm going to find him. I promised I would."


	2. MIA

Sorry the chapters aren't very long, im pretty busy, so I don't get much time to write ( I hope this isn't to boring, its not an action story…

…………

"It all ends tonight." Harry said, as he blasted a wand at Voldemort's feet. It was a warm up more than anything; both of them knew that things wouldn't be settled with a simple stunning spell.

"I have transported us to the realm of the dead." Harry explained. All around them was a desert of darkness, wispy figures floated past, paying them only minor attention. High in the sky was a dark sun, which although entirely black in itself, seemed to cast a shade of light around them.

"Yes I know Harry; I am surprised you would resort to such measures"

"I am going to make sure that this time, when you die, you won't be coming back, and I know how to get home afterwards." Voldemort raised an eyebrow at this comment.

"So you must have been doing your homework then Harry, you need a lot of skill, in order to kill me, and almost as much to make it out of the land of dead.

Harry did not reply to this comment, he simply drew back his wand, a faint light coming from the end as he charged up for an onslaught. The battle that followed was a frenzy of complex spells and counter spells; beams of light and certain death flying either side of them by only a few inches. In the end it seemed Harry was able to take advantage of Voldemort's weakness, for whilst he was unbeatable in magic, except perhaps bar the late Dumbledore, he overlooked his physical defences.

Harry was able to fight his way until they were close together, only a meter or two apart, and then as Voldemort was summoning one of the Pandemonium curses, Harry lunged forwards with a knife, thrust up into the dark lords chest, under his ribcage, piercing his heart. Harry would never forget the feel of the blade cutting through flesh, sliding over bone and embedding itself deep within someone's being. He would always remember the feel of the hot blood as it ran down the hilt of the blade, and soaked into his sleeve. It was hotter than he would have imagined, and it would be some time before he was able to wash it out.

"A knife?" Voldemort said as he gasped for breath. "You would undo me…. with a knife?" In his delight at the battle, he had be so careless, to overlook something like that. "Have you no honour?"

"You deserve none." Harry said, as he drew the blade out, before thrusting again three more times in quick succession. He must have pierced a lung as well, as Voldemort was struggling to breath. He choked on his own blood, as his wand fell to the floor

Harry was successful, but in his success he allowed for a moment of weakness. Voldemort had a final incantation cast upon himself, a spell which would be cast as he was dying. Aurors sometimes used this, so even though they died, there could perhaps still come a little good of it. A beam of light shot from Voldemort's body which slumped to the floor, and blasted into the wand in Harry's hand.

The wand he was holding flew out of his grip, and shot high into the darkness above him. With a flash a line appeared in the sky as his wand tore through space itself, and cluttered to the ground on the muddy field, where it would be found some time later. Harry was left stunned. Why would Voldemort use such a spell as his last act? That is, until it dawned on him. Without his wand he wouldn't be able to get home.

What's more is he never told anyone how he would defeat Voldemort, for fear they would worry about him. He was trapped in the land of the dead, and as far as he knew, no one even knew he was here.

A smokey form slithered out from Voldemort's body. It looked around briefly, before slithering off with the other dead spirits, as they wandered this void.

"Don't panic Harry. Something will turn up." He said to himself. For some reason he had not feared for his life during the battle, but now that he faced being trapped here, it was all he could think about. He wandered round a few moments, searching the floor for any place his wand may have fallen, but to no avail.

"Voldemort's wand!" The idea struck him, and he felt a flood of relief wash over him. With Voldemort's wand he could return to the living world.

He walked over to where the body was still slumped, in a pool of blood.

With a small smile he reached down for the wand, but as he touched it, it crumbled into ashes, along with the body. Harry stared for a moment, before it caught in a warm breeze, and scattered across the plains.

"Ok, that might be a problem…" He said to himself, as he began to ponder

…………………………………………………………………………………………

Hermione stood staring at the muddy patch of ground where the wand had been found. "We have already had a quick look around, there doesn't seem to any sign of blood." Remus explained to the young woman. He said it in a tone which implied although Harry may not have been injured, death was quite possible.

"We have got a few members of the ministry looking further out for him. Can you think of any place he might like to go?"

"No, he would have come here to me." Hermione said. "He knew that I was worried, and he would have come to let me know that he was alright. You said there were a few people out looking, how many?" Although they didn't seem too hopeful, Hermione kept running over the message he had left her, the promise she had made, to find him. He knew something was going to happen.

Remus shifted uneasily.

"Um just two I'm afraid, Arthur Weasely and Kingsley Shacklebolt."

"Only two?" She replied incredulously. "Don't they think it's a little bit more important than that, he did save all of us after all!"

"We all know that Hermione, we know how much he has had to give up. It's just that, we don't strictly know that Voldemort is dead, and so we are out looking for him at the moment as well."

"The last thing we saw of either of them was that Harry cast some sort of black lockout field so that neither of them could escape the battle. It happened there, and suddenly the lockout field faded and both of them were gone. How even one of them is gone is a mystery in itself. No one can escape a lockout field, that's what they are there for."

"Where is his wand?" Hermione asked, still unable to organise her thoughts.

"It's away for testing at the moment; they are having a look at all of his last spells so hopefully we can figure out some sort of lead." As though on queue one of the Aurors ran over. He was quite a young man, probably in his early twenties.

"Well I tell you Professor Lupin, the early results are something else. It's too early to say yet, but whatever was going on was pretty wild. It looks like he put up a hell of a fight, we have some spells which we don't even recognise here! Can you imagine, magic like that at his age. I guess his skills were no exaggeration."

"So we are waiting on the results of those spells then? Confirmation of what they did?" Remus enquired

"That's correct sir."

"Do you mind if I have a look? I supervised Harry training a few times; I may be able to assist with a couple of those. I know he did spend a lot of time working on new spells, and although I don't know them all, I could probably spot a few."

"Certainly. Anything that could clear up the confusion would be great. The ministry needs to make an announcement soon for tomorrows edition of the prophet, but we don't know if either one of them is alive or dead."

"Hermione…" Remus said softly as he turned back to the young girl. "It might take some time, its pretty late, why don't you go in and get some rest, and we will tell you everything first thing in the morning."

"No, I can't sleep at a time like this." She answered. "I know Harry better than anyone else, I need to be here to help." Remus regarded her for a moment, before nodding.

"Very well you can help. Still, you must be cold out here. At the very least have a hot drink to warm yourself up." He said as he passed her a flask of hot chocolate. Hermione tried to pour herself a cup, and found her hands were shaking a little. Remus steading her, by placing his hands around hers. "That's it, it will be alright." He said, as he assisted her. Hermione darnk the hot chocolate in a few quick gulps. She felt a little warmer, and it helped her pay more attention to the situation at hand. It also made her head feel clearer, and everything a little quieter.

"I'm sorry Hermione." Remus said as he did the lid up on the flask. "But we have no answers yet, and you will only be worrying. Hermione gave him a confused look, before she realised what was happening, but by this point it was to late, she had been drugged. Her unconscious body fell back into the arms of Tonks, who was waiting behind her. "If you wouldn't mind taking her inside Tonks, I know how distressing times like this can be. I think this is for the best. Pray she has good news to awaken to."

…………………………………………………………………………………………

The next morning the search was still continuing. There were still a lot of questions flying around, which remained unanswered. There didn't seem to be any sign of Voldemort, or any remaining Death Eaters. If there were any followers around them they were certainly keeping under the radar. The prophet had published a report on the events of the night.

"Is this the end of Voldemort?" was the title. It was mostly just speculation on what might have happened. Surprisingly there was little mention of the fact Harry Potter was missing, it simply stated that he had been in battle with Voldemort. Remus looked at it and sighed. It seemed in history the great deeds of few often go unnoticed. More often than not it is the acts that were committed, rather than those that committed them, that are mentioned.

They had checked various locations that Harry may have been found. No sign of him had turned up at privet drive, the Burrow, or even by the grave of his parents. Remus had been especially hopeful on the latter. He knew that he himself would shortly be visiting the resting place of his friends to tell them that it was finally over, that justice had been done. After all he was the only one left now who could.

Hermione woke up in the hospital wing. Her first question was why she was there, she hadn't injured herself, then the events of the previous night came pouring back to her, and a sick feeling welled up inside. She glanced at her watch to see how much time had passed by. Several hours by the looks of it. She climbed out of bed, to find she was still in her pyjamas. Harry wasn't sitting on one of the seats at her bedside, though Ron was. This was of little consolation to her.

"Hermione." Ron said as he stood up. "You shouldn't be jumping out of bed."

"I'm not ill." She retorted curtly. "Where is Harry? Have they found him yet? Is he dead? At the commotion Madame Pomfrey came bustling into the room.

"Miss Granger, you should rest."

"Where is Harry?" she demanded again without listening.

"He hasn't come back yet." Ron explained as he took hold of her wrist, and tried to hold her back. She shook him off.

"Then I need to go and look for him."

"They are already looking for him Hermione, you shouldn't fret yourself. He will turn up. Besides, how can you help? What can one person do?"

"One person? Hermione shouted over her shoulder as she left the room. "One person saved the world last night."


End file.
